Chapter Seventeen

—=—

Unacceptable.

Deplorable.

Outrageous.

Unfathomable!

Inexcusable!

REPREHENSIBLE, REVOLTING, EGREGIOUS, DISHONOURABLE, INTOLERABLE, GREVIOUS, APPALING, ATROCIOUS, DISTURBING, INSUFFERABLE, ABOMINABLE, ABHORANT, ODIOUS, REPUGNANT, DETESTABLE, UNSPEAKABLE, DISGUSTING, VILE, BARBARIC, INHUMANE, UNTHINKABLEEVIL!

Yuri marched down the sidewalk in a rage, frustration filling his head in burning fury at his limited vocabulary.

Death.

Yuri stomped up the complex steps and threw open the door.

Death to them all.

He mounted the stairs to the next floor, livid in righteous fury. Painful, agonizing, justified fury that something so heinous, so utterly and IMPLICITLY WICKED couldHAPPEN!

DEATH! EXCRUCIATING, VIOLENT, VICIOUS, MERCILESS DEATH TO THEM ALL!

Yuri knocked on the door, powered by pure wrath and a boiling vengeance in his blood. He couldn't let this stand. It was unthinkable. The SSS was meant to protect. The government was meant to protect. And the judge was meant to CONDEMN!

Yuri was lost in a sea of red. An endless, boiling, angry ocean of blood. The blood of his enemies that he would pour into it. He would—

"Yuri!" Yor's glorious face appeared in the doorway and Yuri melted.

"Sis!" He flung his arms around her and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"Yuri, what's wrong?!"

"I'm sorry, sis! I tried, I really did!" He blubbered.

"Yuri, what on earth are you talking about?!"

The gentle, strong hands of his sister embraced him back and Yuri nearly forgot himself. He couldn't dissolve into a puddle, he was here for a reason.

Regretfully, he pulled back. "Sis, we need to t—" Yuri noticed at once the bags set near the door, the chihuahua and the sister-stealer nearby dressed for the outdoors, and realized Yor was wearing her jacket. "Yor?! What's going on?!"

Yuri was instantly worried. Yor's face was pensive, she fidgeted nervously, and it looked like she was getting ready to go somewhere for an extended amount of time and she wasn't going to tell him?!

THIS HAD TO BE LOIDY'S FAULT. HE WAS A SPY! Yuri didn't know how it connected yet, BUT THAT HAD TO BE IT! Yuri fwipped a glare at him.

"Um. . " His sister trailed off.

The shifty sneak spoke. "It's my fault—"

"AHA!" Yuri pointed accusingly at him. "You admit it!"

"My mother is sick and we're going to go stay with her for a while." The suspicious man finished and Yuri retracted his finger, though his scowl remained plastered on his face.

"Hmph." He said. "Likely story."

"Yuri, everything's fine. Really." She assuaged him, though Yuri found it hard to relax. "Yuri, what did you need?" She asked gently. "You came here for something, right?"

Yuri sighed, not relishing the coming conversation, and took his sister's silent invite to enter. She closed the door behind him.

"It's the—" Yuri glanced at the chihuahua. Maybe she shouldn't be here for this. "The scientists."

Yor's expression grew dark. "Yes." She muttered. "We know."

"Wait, what? How could you know? They were just released last night!"

"Oh!" Yor startled out of her scarily, deathly visage. "Um—I-I mean—"

"She means, we were worried about this." The scum interjected. "The justice system is flawed and people often get away with all sorts of things."

That rankled Yuri. To have his people criticized by the likes of him felt disgusting and abominable. How dare he. Yuri might have been thinking that just a couple of minutes ago and he wasn't really involved with anything but the SSS, so strictly speaking he couldn't call them his people, but how. Dare. He?

Yuri hated this guy.

He harrumphed and gave his jacket a sharp tug before turning back to his sister. "Anyway. They claimed they were working under duress and the judge was stupid enough to believe them." He ground out, only getting more angry the more he talked. Then depressed and filled with shame at the thought of how he failed his sister. He hung his head. "I'm sorry, Sis. I couldn't lock away your enemies."

"Oh, Yuri." She responded. "It's not your fault." She touched her hand to his cheek and he hated the coldness left behind when she withdrew. "Thank you for trying. That's all I could ask for."

"Aw, Big Siiis." Yuri cried and enveloped her in another hug.

"Oh, Yuri." She sighed and patted his back.

Yor indulged him for a couple minutes, but unfortunately, she had to cut their time short. Since they were already aware of the situation and would no doubt prepare for it, Yuri reluctantly left her.

He had to let his sister know about the scientists, but Yuri wasn't done yet.

He would deal with this.

For Yor.

—-

The strange man left and Demetrius came out of hiding. He was aware that Mrs. Forger had a brother in the SSS, that he knew about Anya, and Demetrius wasn't about to give himself away. Yuri would no doubt find it odd that Demetrius was in the Forger's apartment, and just because Yuri Briar protected Anya, that didn't mean he would protect Demetrius.

Besides. Demetrius would always prefer to keep his secrets to himself, anyway.

Gathering his things was a simple task. He didn't have much here. The Forger's had provided him a duffle bag of borrowed things and it took less than five minutes to grab everything.

And then Yuri showed up.

It was an unwelcome interruption and Demetrius was anxious to get moving the second Yuri was gone.

Demetrius needed to get to Damian. Now. As soon as possible. He didn't trust that his father wouldn't fetch Damian back home and Demetrius was jumpy with nerves as everyone finally left the complex and piled into the car.

—

Day 3.

The third day since Forger had said she wanted to be friends. The third day since she had stopped avoiding Damian. The third day since the rift between them began to seal shut again.

Damian woke and he was reminded of it. He got dressed and he was lighter. His steps were easier. His mind was relieved of a massive weight whenever he thought about her. . .

. . .

Because, obviously, Damian's friends would come to mind sometimes.

The spring in his step was automatic and every second he breathed was another second of an unadulterated and consuming peace of mind and contentedness. Like he had finally crested a dangerous, scary cliff that he had struggled and worked to climb, fearing he may never reach the top.

But he had. He had made it.

And he was. . .happy.

Damian couldn't stop thinking about it. His waking moments when he was doing something else were distracted by it. The importance of doing schoolwork was dwarfed by it. Everything was right again and Damian just. . .couldn't. Stop. Thinking about it.

"You're in a good mood." Emile commented from the floor. He sat by the coffee table in the commons room looking over his homework as the boys so often did before heading out for breakfast.

"What?" Damian looked up from his own on the couch, realizing he had blanked out on it.

"You were smiling." Ewen added.

Damian took a moment to process that, staring blankly at his friend. ". . .What?"

"You must be really confident with your answers." Emile glanced intentionally at his homework.

"Umm. . .yeah." Damian responded. It wasn't a lie. His work often had the best scores in Cecil Hall.

But the boys continued to look at him as if expecting him to say something more.

". . .What?" Damian said again, warily.

"You and Forger have been getting along lately." Ewen said evenly and Damian jolted like he'd been hit with a car, forgetting to breathe. His face burned.

"Y-y-y-yeah, so?!" He stammered, taken by surprise and inexplicably angry. At the same time, he wondered how such a phrase could sound so amazingly surreal. He. . .wanted to. . .hear it aga—

NO, HE DID NOT!!

"It's just, you've seemed a lot happier the past couple days. Less stressed out." Ewen explained.

"Th-th-that's just cause she's finally realized how great I am!"

"Yeah, you were real worried that she hated you." Emile added.

"W-WHAT?! N-NO I WASN'T!"

"You weren't?" Emile asked innocently. "You kept staring at her in class then attacking your notebook like it was trying to kill you. Do you hate her, then?"

"Of course not!" Damian scoffed automatically with imperious authority.

"No, he was way too worried about her to hate her." Ewen contested and Damian's head nearly blew it's top.

"Uh—gh—" His throat constricted with words, with a defence, but they strangled him instead. Lodged where he couldn't reach them. His friend's showed no emotion and wait for him to speak.

"O-Obviously!" He ended up spurting with more force than he intended. "Sh-she's a friend! You were worried too!"

Ewen looked down at his homework on the table and held his cheek in his palm. His face was partially obscured, but it didn't hide his smirk. "Not like you were." He said.

"Th-that's—" Damian said weakly, the heat rising in his face as if someone had turned his internal thermostat all the way up. "Th-that's nonsense!" He insisted. Why were his friends ganging up on him!? Where did they get these crazy ideas?!

"Boss, your face is all red."

"What?!" Damian turned to Emile who sat on the opposite side of the table from Ewen.

"Are you sick?"

Ewen scoffed into his hand, openly smiling now at his homework as he wrote something down. "Maybe he's enraged again." He mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Damian snapped back to him, though instantly regretted that he was allowing this to continue.

Ewen opened his mouth to answer, but just then, the sound of a knock interrupted him and rapped on the door of the suite.

The boys paused. The retort hot on Ewen's tongue was doused and his mouth shut closed as all three heads turned to the door in surprise.

It was quite rare to have someone at their door so early and Damian was beyond relieved for the interruption. After a shared look among the three, Ewen got up to answer it.

He opened it.

Damian drained of his relief and the heat in his face was replaced with ice.

"Good morning, boys." The dorm supervisor greeted with a friendly smile.

Damian's mouth went dry. His gut tried to retreat into itself and his lungs offered little more than shallow, hesitant breaths.

"Damian. Someone's here to see you." The supervisor continued.

Damian blinked, wishing upon desperate wish that it would erase this picture in front of him. "W-w-what is h-he doing here?" Damian said quietly, hating how small he sounded and the strange looks it garnered from his friends and the supervisor.

"Master Damian." Fin Barkley greeted starchly.

Donovan's driver stood behind the supervisor and yet Barkley's presence made the man seem all but insignificant. The driver's crisply worn suit, his brushed back hair, and his perpetually neutral face, all seemed to glue together his stiff professionalism with his seemingly permanent, rail straight, perfect posture.

Damian had never seen him show an ounce of emotion and it had always unnerved him. Even Damian's father had shown signs of displeasure and fake, social smiles before.

"Your father has sent me to bring you home." Barkley said and Damian's heart stopped. Sound stilled as if daring Damian to break it and his breath caught as if he was no longer allowed to breathe. Dread settled like a boulder on his chest and it burrowed deeper and deeper with each passing second.

"W-what?" Damian breathed, fearing his voice would shake if he spoke louder.

"I'll leave you to it." The supervisor said, though no one paid him much attention as he left.

"Someone will be by to pack your things later." Barkley added.

Ewen and Emile turned to Damian, knowing this was a big deal for him. They expected their friend to be happy, but he was not acting like someone who was happy and their confusion was written all over their faces.

'Pack. . .pack my things?' Damian sweat, fighting the urge to run into his room and lock the door.

'Pack. . . pack my things.'

Someone was going to come and pack his things. His father wanted him to come home.

Damian's hand had fisted around his pencil and his chest rose unevenly.

His father wanted him to come home.

For how long? Why did his things have to be packed up?!

"N-no thanks." Damian answered and knew it was useless before he said it.

"It was not a request. If there is something you'd like to bring with you now, you should retrieve it."

Damian swallowed nervously. If he didn't cooperate, what would happen? Barkley wouldn't drag him out, would he? Damian didn't think so. Not on school grounds where it would cause a scene.

"I-I think—" How did Damian get out of this?! He couldn't go home. He couldn't see his father. He didn't want to imagine what his father could possibly want him home for. "I-I think—" Damian stammered, though he had no idea what to say.

But it didn't matter, cause someone's foot came flying into view and kicked Barkley in the head.

"Ahh!" All three boys jolted as the corridor wall was injured by the back of Barkley's skull while blood spurted from his nose. It happened so fast. The motion so quick, that when the leg lowered, Barkley was unconscious and Demetrius stood in the doorway, nudging the crumpled body with his bloodied shoe.

"Demetrius?!" Damian's already wide eyes felt like they could pop out of his head as he jumped down from the couch. Ewen and Emile gaped as his older brother came inside. "S-since when could you do that?!" Damian spluttered and pointed at the man's disfigured face he couldn't pull his eyes from.

"Where's your room?" Demetrius said, sweeping his flat gaze around the suit.

"I-It's over there, but—Demetrius!" Damian couldn't finish his sentence before his brother strode to the door Damian indicated, not wasting a second. "Uh—Deme—" Damian glanced at his friends who were as stunned as he, to the man outside the suite door, and glanced back to Demetrius who had disappeared into his room. "Demetrius!" Damian dropped his homework he had forgotten he was holding and ran to catch up to find him pulling out his drawers.

"Do you have a bag?" Demetrius asked, not bothering to look at him and swept the room with his gaze instead.

"W-what? I don't—No? What's going on?! What are you doing here?!"

As soon as Demetrius heard it, he ripped Damian's pillowcase right off his pillow in one hard fwap. He began to stuff random clothes into it.

"Demetrius! What's going on?!"

His brother closed the drawers. "We gotta leave." He explained with an infuriating calmness and lack of details. "Go grab your toothbrush. You need anything else?" Demetrius finally turned to him, expectantly.

"Wh—De—I don't know. Just tell me what's going on! Why is Father's driver here?!"

"Later. We need to be quick." Demetrius brushed past him and Damian followed him, bewildered, back into the commons room. Ewen and Emile's still stunned faces stared unblinkingly at his brother.

"Washroom?" Demetrius asked in passing and his friends pointed dazedly at it.

As Damian followed after his brother once more, he didn't know how to respond to the confused, questioning looks from his friends. He was just as confused.

The washroom for the suite contained a long counter along one wall with a large mirror stretching the length of it. On the wall opposite from the counter, were two more doors—One holding a toilet, and one leading into the shower area.

As soon as Damian stepped through the door and saw the sink he automatically associated as his, Demetrius opened the cupboard underneath and grabbed Damian's stuff, throwing them haphazardly into the pillow case.

Damian's stuff. His toothbrush. Demetrius was packing his toothbrush. It hit Damian that he'd be gone long enough to need it.

"Deme—"

But his older brother was already up and grabbing Damian's hand to leave.

"What—but—" Barely a moment after stepping inside the washroom, Damian was pulled out again and Demetrius walked fast. "Deme—" To avoid having his arm being ripped off, Damian was forced into a jog to keep up and he hardly had time to glance at his friends as they rose from the table.

"Lord Damian!"

Then Demetrius abruptly stopped at the door. Damian would've tumbled over his own feet if Demetrius hadn't caught him, barely noticing he'd even done it. His older brother turned to Ewen and Emile who continued to gape after him. "If anyone asks, I wasn't here and I didn't do that." He gestured to the man conked out on the floor who would no doubt have a large bump as well as a sore face when he woke.

"Wha—" The boys looked to Damian, who after a moment of looking between them and his brother in disorientation, nodded numbly. He had no idea what was going on, but he trusted Demetrius.

Ewen and Emile exchanged looks. "Okay. . .?" They muttered abstractedly.

"Good." Demetrius said and they were in motion again.

Down the halls, the boys ran (well, Damian ran while Demetrius took long steps really, really fast, the pillow case in his other hand doing nothing to slow him down) and Damian would've tripped several times if Demetrius didn't hold him so tight or pull him up before he could fall.

Descending the stairs with Damian in his hand would make it hard to move quickly, and Demetrius just scooped him up under an arm to pound down the steps even faster.

"Wha—hey!" Damian complained only for it to be ignored.

When they exited the dorm building, Demetrius' head was on a swivel as they headed for the campus gates.

Damian didn't like that.

What was going on? Why was Demetrius here? Why was Mr. Barkley here? Where were they going? Were they in danger? Demetrius was acting as if someone could be after them.

His questions were put on hold, though, when they passed through the gates, hurried down the stairs, and found the Forgers waiting for them in their car.

"What—"

Demetrius yanked the back door open to reveal the youngest Forger at the far end.

"Forg—" Damian started.

"Get inside." Demetrius prodded and threw Damian's pillow case in the trunk when it popped open.

"Hello, Damian." Mrs. Forger smiled at him from the front as if everything was normal.

"H-hi. . ." Damian said and climbed in when Demetrius prodded him again.

Damian looked to Forger as he settled in the middle, hoping for some sort of explanation, but she was rather quiet.

The door closed behind Demetrius and the car pulled away from the school. Damian caught Mr. Forger glancing at him in the rearview mirror.

"Are you alright, Damian? You seem a little nervous."

Damian scoffed. "Of course I am! Demetrius just kicked a guy and dragged me out of school with no explanation! What's going on!?"

Mr. Forger's eyebrow raised at Demetrius, but his brother showed no reaction.

Damian waited for a response while the Forgers shared a glance.

Demetrius answered first. "We're gonna disappear for a bit. We're not safe anymore."

—-

Author's Note:

Okay . .so after I wrote this chapter, I realized the Eden dorms are much different than what I described, but I didn't feel like correcting it so. . . yeah. :)